Book Review: Yonah and Devorah’s Traveling Music Theater by Suze Leonie
When famous new media artist Eli Schmidt inherits a mysterious chest from his emotionally detached grandmother that he is instructed not to open, he can’t curb his curiosity.
Inside, he finds a lost and lonely doll named Devorah, who begins to heartbreakingly scream for the love of her life, Yonah. Wishing he had obeyed orders, Eli has no choice but to go on a journey to reunite the pair.
To his great distress, this means he must give up his treasured peace and quiet and do what he loathes the most: interact with other people. While Eli desperately tries to break free from this burden, Devorah amplifies her control, embroiling him in a battle that will forever change the course of his life.
Yonah and Devorah’s Traveling Music Theater Review
I was compensated with a small amount for my time and effort in reading the book and writing this review. However, all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own and are based on my honest personal experience reading the book. Nor did the publisher in any way shape or form ever pressure me to give a positive review.
Suze Leonie’s Yonah and Devorah’s Traveling Music Theater begins with our protagonist, Eli Schmidt, a Dutch new-media artist who blatantly ignores his late grandmother’s explicit instructions not to open a mysterious box she left behind. Inside, he discovers Devorah, a 1960s show-doll, who immediately latches onto him, relentlessly using him as a means to track down her missing partner.
I love that the story dives straight to the point, making it more fast-paced and exciting in the beginning. Devorah’s explosive entrance is impossible to miss and incredibly memorable. Her strong personality and intriguing presence made me feel just as surprised as Eli was when he first encountered her, and at that moment, I really felt like I just experienced exactly the emotional reaction Eli would’ve felt in that situation. This created an immersive hook right from the beginning, pulling me into the narrative and immediately making me eager to keep reading and know what happens next.
Eli himself is a very interesting and multi-dimensional protagonist. On one hand, he’s undeniably talented, a brilliant artist whose creativity is clear from the start. On the other hand, he’s quite reckless, as shown by his blatant disregard for his grandmother’s warnings. I also got the impression that Eli might be somewhat of an unreliable narrator. Despite being the protagonist, some of his views feel clearly biased or skewed.
For instance, regarding his grandmother, Eli consistently insists she treated him with nothing but contempt, yet she was the one who attempted to lock away the family curse and explicitly warned Eli not to open the box. Nothing in the book suggests she had any malicious intentions behind those instructions. This mismatch between Eli’s bitterness and the sparse evidence provided makes me suspect that, although Grandma was not perfect, she may not have been as bad as Eli portrays her.
As I continued reading, I found myself liking Devorah more than Eli. It’s not because she’s inherently “better,” but rather because her personality resonates more strongly with me and is more my cup of tea for lack of a better term. In other words, people with Devorah’s personality attract me more. At first glance, Devorah seems somewhat like a spoiled child, constantly throwing tantrums when Eli first meets her. Thanks to the distinct writing style that really helped showcase different talking styles and personas between characters, I did get a sense of almost “childishness” from her behavior when Eli first met her. However, as the story progresses, she transforms into a critical strategist who significantly drives the plot forward. Ultimately, the supposed puppet becomes the true puppeteer of the story, and I absolutely loved that reversal.
The friction and unique dynamic between Eli and Devorah’s contrasting personalities feed into the larger themes of the toll of artistic creation on mental and physical health and the symbolic “generational baton” passed down through family members. Eli consistently suppresses his emotions, almost abusing his own health for the sake of his art. This intense dynamic between artist and creation amplifies the novel’s underlying messages about the cost of genius and inherited family burdens.
I really think readers who enjoy flawed but realistic main characters, stories that deeply explore mental and physical health alongside art, and narratives centered around family legacies and generational themes would genuinely appreciate and connect with this book.
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About the Author of Yonah and Devorah’s Traveling Music Theater
Suze Leonie is a literary fiction and children’s fiction author and illustrator from a Dutch coastal town. She has a passion for literature and philosophy and when she isn’t writing or drawing, she’s usually found with a book in her hand. In the spring of 2024 Suze Leonie made her debut with the novel Ivan, Boris and Me, which is the first book in a collection of literary works that heavily focus on human psychology. When Suze Leonie is able to let go of her precious books she enjoys going to museums, good food, board games and long walks on the beach.
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